


We Could Make a Deal

by lzdoodlertrashpit



Category: Goosebumps - All Media Types
Genre: Explicit Language, Light Angst, Other, Platonic Relationships, Underage Smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:21:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28033077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lzdoodlertrashpit/pseuds/lzdoodlertrashpit
Summary: The dummy Jimmy found in the garbage has offered to change his life - will he accept the deal? (my interpretation of how Jimmy initially meets Slappy)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	We Could Make a Deal

**Author's Note:**

> Jimmy is about 15/16 in this piece - still a high schooler. This takes place before Bride of the Living Dummy and Slappy's Nightmare.

Jimmy slumped into his room, dropping his bookbag beside his desk and collapsing into the chair. He cradled his head in his hands, allowing himself to rock back and forth to stave off his tears.

It was all the same anymore. He couldn’t escape the bullying at school, he couldn’t escape his aunt’s slurred yelling and sloppy insults. He was stuck in an endless cycle of shame and verbal abuse. Everyone was convinced that he deserved nothing, and he believed it.

Jimmy glanced down at his bookbag. There were countless assignments he was behind on. He couldn’t remember the last time he even touched his textbooks. Not like his teachers cared, though. They don’t even address his existence in their classroom, much less ask why his grades were slipping. For all they cared, he was just a cockroach scuttling in and out of site. High school was a wasteland, and he was nothing but debris to navigate around.

There must be a reason everyone hated him so much. Something that he couldn’t see but was glaringly obvious to everyone else.

Jimmy let out a defeated sigh, then reached down into the bottom drawer. He pulled out a beat-up box of Newports and a lighter he stole from his aunt. Taking out a cigarette, he flicked the lighter on and took a drag.

_“Whatcha got there, kiddo?”_ a hoarse, raspy voice cut through the silence, startling Jimmy and causing him to drop the cigarette on his lap. He winced at the burning sensation and hastily brushed the still burning cigarette off his lap to put out on the desk. He whipped his head around the room to find where the voice came from. No one else was in the room with him. It was just Jimmy and his sparse belongings scattered around the room. The only difference was that the dummy that he rescued from the dumpster had its head turned toward him and was leaning out of the bookcase. Jimmy squinted at the dummy. Wasn’t he facing the wall opposite of Jimmy? And didn’t Jimmy set the dummy so that it was leaning against the back of the bookshelf?

Jimmy glanced around the room again, much more cautiously this time. Did he imagine that voice?

Of course he did. Jimmy shook his head in self-contempt. Just another thing fucking up his brain. He shouldn’t have been surprised at hearing voices. His aunt always accused him of being a nut case. Maybe she was right. Jimmy was fucked up in every other way, why not hear voices on top of that?

Jimmy huffed and grabbed the cigarette off the desk. He had left a burn mark on the surface. Another one to add to the growing collection on his desk. He put the cigarette to his lips again when that same hoarse raspy voice cut through and said, _“Not very polite of you to ignore my question.”_

Jimmy whipped his head to the bookshelf. The voice was definitely coming from there. However, the only thing he saw was the dummy leaning out and leering at him.

A feverish thought crossed Jimmy’s mind. _Was the voice…coming from the dummy…?_

Obviously it was a stupid question. Dummies can’t talk on their own. There’s literally a whole profession on making dummies talk – obviously they can’t talk by themselves. But why was the voice coming from the bookshelf, and why was the dummy moved from where Jimmy had it set last?

Despite knowing how ridiculous it was, Jimmy tried his luck. “Was that you talking…?” he asked the dummy apprehensively.

To his horror, the dummy’s grin widened. Its mouth began to move – on its _own_ – and responded to the teenager. _“Look at the cogs turning in your little head. Where else could it have been?”_

Jimmy’s heart stopped beating. His muscles froze up, keeping him glued to the chair. All he could do was stare and gape at the talking dummy in horrified silence.

_“Aww,”_ the dummy cooed in a mocking tone, _“starstruck by my presence?”_ It snickered. _“I know, it must be shocking to be talking to someone as good looking and charming as myself.”_

There was a talking dummy in Jimmy’s room. There was a _talking dummy_ in his room. It took every muscle in Jimmy’s body to sputter, “W-w-what are you?”

The dummy shook its head and _tsked_ at the teen. _“Well that’s not proper English. Clearly you meant_ who _am I?”_ To his further horror, the dummy pushed itself off the bookshelf and landed on the floor with a loud wooden clonk. It stood there in front of Jimmy, supported by nothing but whatever was possessing the dummy to move. _“The name’s Slappy. You had the absolute pleasure of waking me from my slumber.”_

“Slumber…?” Jimmy repeated, unable to process the wooden creature standing – _by itself_ – in front of him, much less the words coming out of its mouth.

_“Of course!”_ the dummy exclaimed. _“I was put to sleep by some sniveling loser, but you spoke the words out loud and brought this fine fellow back to consciousness.”_

The words…Jimmy’s mind flashed back to the dumpster, when he had fished the business card out of the dummy’s pocket. Those strange words he was trying to pronounce…

_“I can see the pieces moving in your brain kiddo,”_ the dummy said with a sneer. _“You have two and two, can you be a big boy and count to four?”_

Jimmy finally managed to push the words out from his chest and through his mouth. “Did I summon a demon…?”

The dummy – Slappy – cocked his head and wagged his finger. _“Not quite, junior. I’m no demon, or ghost, or any sort of possessive entity. As you can see,”_ he rasped, gesturing to himself, _“I’m a ventriloquist dummy. I’m my own person, albeit a cursed one.”_ He rolled his glass eyes and fixated them on the teen. _“And you just tied yourself into my curse.”_

“What do you mean…?” Jimmy attempted to ask, only managing to whisper.

_“You don’t seem too bright,”_ Slappy said, _“so let me spell it out for you. Those magic words you spoke out loud? They translate to ‘You and I are one now’. You woke me up and sealed a magic bond. Our souls are connected now.”_ The dummy leaned forward, his glassy blue eyes piercing into Jimmy’s. _“As long as you live, we’re stuck together.”_

Jimmy’s mouth turned into cotton. His stomach dropped, and a shudder ran down his spine. There was a talking, moving, living dummy standing right in front of him. And to his luck, he somehow managed to attach his soul to it. _As long as you live._

Slappy blinked, his wooden eyelids clicking, and continued. _“Now this could go in a few different directions, so choose wisely.”_ He tilted his head. _“You don’t know the full extent of my powers. I can make your life a living nightmare. I can hurt everyone you love and care about, and I can ruin everything for you.”_

All the blood left Jimmy’s body. He sat there frozen in front of this horrifying image. He began to taste bile in his mouth.

_“Or!”_ Slappy exclaimed with a clap of his hands, the wooden clonk making Jimmy jump. _“I can be your best pal, your partner in crime. Jimmy, right?”_ Jimmy forced a tiny nod. _“Well Jimmy my dear, we could make a deal. We’re together for life, so we can make this worth while for us.”_ The side of Slappy’s mouth pulled up in a smirk. _“I’ve noticed your life is pretty pathetic. You’re a miserable little chap. But I can change that for you. I can give you a new life. You and I, we could make a good team. What do you say to that?”_

Thoughts were racing in Jimmy’s mind. How was this happening to him? _Why_ was this happening to him? What was this creature going to do to him?

Jimmy began thinking of the implications of what the dummy was offering. A new life, whatever that entailed, with a talking ventriloquist dummy. He could leave his aunt’s house, get away from school. He could choose to not be invisible anymore. But what could this entity offer him? What was going to happen if he said yes? And what did he have to give back in order to make this deal?

Did he even have much of a choice? Slappy said it himself – he could make Jimmy’s life so much more miserable if he refused. There weren’t many people close to Jimmy, but the dummy could make everyone hate him even more. He could be sent away to a psych ward, or to juvie, and never see anyone ever again. Was that the life he wanted?

After taking a slow, shallow breath, Jimmy nodded. “Okay.”

_“So we have a deal?”_ Slappy asked, a glint his cold eyes.

“We have a deal.”


End file.
